Jim Crow/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Moby is driving a car through the downtown area of a big city. Tim is sitting on the passenger's side. TIM: Uh-oh. Looks like traffic up ahead. Traffic begins to back up. The car in front of them stops. Moby halts their car. MOBY: Beep. People in the backed-up traffic begin honking their horns. A line of protestors is blocking the traffic. Moby frowns and honks his horn. TIM: Whoa, settle down. They're fighting for a good cause. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I've heard about segregation; but I don't really get it. Why couldn't black and white kids go to school together? Thanks, Maddie. Hi, Maddie. It's true. Before the nineteen-sixties, many children attended segregated schools. That means African American kids were kept away from white kids. Side by side images show a white classroom and an African American classroom. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The practice began shortly after the Civil War. The South was in ruins, and millions of ex-slaves were suddenly free. An animation shows a Southern plantation owner, sitting on his front porch reading a newspaper. The newspaper's headline reads: Lee Surrenders, Civil War Ends. A male and female ex-slave walk away from him and his plantation. The plantation owner frowns. TIM: They could work and live alongside whites as equals, not servants. For many Southerners, this was intolerable. MOBY: Beep. TIM: They immediately set out to disenfranchise African Americans. In other words, to block their participation in our democracy. An animation shows an African American attempting to vote, but being blocked by a large white man. TIM: New constitutional amendments were supposed to prevent that sort of thing. But down South, there was no one to enforce them. The African American holds up a sheet of paper. Text on the paper reads: Fourteenth Amendment. The large white man takes the sheet of paper and rips it in half. MOBY: Beep. TIM: With the black vote squashed, racist lawmakers were free to do as they pleased. They passed laws to segregate all areas of society, not just schools. Businesses, public places, and neighborhoods were kept separate, too. A split screen shows four images: African American students and teachers standing in front of a schoolhouse with a sign that reads Freedman's School; a laundromat with a sign that reads: We Wash for White People Only; a sign in the woods that reads: Picnic Site for Negroes; and a shabby African American neighborhood separated by a fence from a much nicer white neighborhood. MOBY: Beep. TIM: There were early attempts to fight these discriminatory laws. In eighteen ninety-two, Homer Plessy sat in a whites-only train car in New Orleans. Animations show a train pulling into a station and Homer Plessy walking onto a train car labeled: Whites Only. TIM: He hoped to get arrested so segregation could be fought on legal grounds. The case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. An image shows the nine justices of the Supreme Court. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The Court ruled that segregation didn't violate the Constitution. Plessy versus Ferguson said black and white facilities could be separate but equal. An animation shows two identical public drinking fountains. Both are clean with running water. One is labeled: White; the other is labeled: Colored. TIM: In practice, facilities were rarely equal. An animation shows the two public drinking fountains. The one labeled "White" is still clean with running water, while the one labeled "Colored" is now a wooden bucket with a ladle. TIM: And that was just one part of what made life so intolerable. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Segregation policed black behavior, too. Curfews kept African Americans from leaving their homes or meeting in groups. An animation shows a white police officer standing outside an African American home. Two African Americans look out the window from inside. TIM: They had to live in separate neighborhoods, hold specific jobs, and talk to whites with the utmost respect. An animation shows an African American man walking across a street. He sees a white woman, tips his hat, and smiles. She does not acknowledge him as she walks past. TIM: It was a new form of social control to keep African Americans in their place. Try to fight it, and you risked jail time, injury, even death. Images represent the three possible consequences Tim describes. TIM: The laws, and the society they created, are known as Jim Crow. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Jim Crow was a character used by minstrels. White comedians would paint their faces black and impersonate African Americans. Their impressions ranged from savage brutes to helpless fools. An image shows a white man in blackface. Another image shows the outside of a theater. A sign reads: Big Minstrel Jubilee. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Insulting images of grinning faces were used to sell products. Images show products marketed with derogatory African American images. Names of the products include: Mammy Oranges and King Yams. TIM: While scarier depictions could be called on to rile up a mob. Black men in particular were seen as dangerous figures. The nineteen-fifteen silent movie "Birth of a Nation" popularized this myth. An animation shows a white audience in a movie theater. Onscreen, an African American man frightens a white woman. White men appear and restrain him. TIM: Screenings were often followed by riots, and attacks on innocent people. Membership in terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan exploded. An animation shows several Klan members atop their horses, holding torches. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The KKK used fear and paranoia to spread hatred of African Americans. The slightest misstep, like looking a white person in the eye, could get you lynched. That meant being tortured and killed, often by hanging. An image shows an African American hanging from a tree, with four white men standing below the body. A black man and woman stand with their back to the group. The woman is crying. TIM: Black Southerners were never really safe and lived in constant fear. Eventually, millions of them left the South during the Great Migration. An animation shows an African American family driving down a highway, past a sign that reads: Chicago, 230 miles. TIM: They saw a new life in the North as their only chance at a fair shake. MOBY: Beep. TIM: They resettled in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and New York. An animated map illustrates the Great Migration, with African Americans moving northward. Cities noted on the map include: Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, and Philadelphia. TIM: Working in factories instead of fields, many were able to share in America's prosperity. They could vote, which gave them political power. And they enjoyed more freedom, without the constant threat of violence. An image shows a city skyline and an African American hand holding a wrench, which changes into money. Additional images show a ballot being put into a ballot box and a pair of African American hands breaking apart handcuffs. TIM: But the situation was still far from ideal. MOBY: Beep. TIM: There were no Jim Crow laws up North, but informal rules still kept African Americans apart. They were discouraged from entering spaces that whites had staked out as their own. In many places, homeowners would sell their houses only to other whites. An animation shows a white man watering the lawn in front of his house. There is a "For Sale" sign on his lawn. An African American couple walks by, pushing a baby stroller. The white man turns the "For Sale" sign around so it cannot be read. TIM: Meanwhile, banks would refuse to give home loans for houses in black neighborhoods. This was called "redlining." An image shows two white men examining a map of a city's neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods are colored red and labeled: No. TIM: With neighborhoods effectively segregated, public schools were, too. MOBY: Beep. TIM: As the twentieth century unfolded, a new generation of African Americans was on the rise. They'd never been enslaved, and they had more education and money. Images show contemporary African American couples and their children. TIM: So they supported leaders who wanted to fight for equal rights. Ida Wells began documenting crimes against African Americans. An image shows a portrait of Ida Wells. TIM: She showed that lynchings often targeted random, innocent people. An image shows the cover of a book by Ida Wells titled "Southern Horrors." TIM: W.E.B. DuBois wrote about racial prejudice and black pride. His newspaper, "The Crisis," was the official publication of the NAACP. That stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. An image shows W.E.B. DuBois reading Ida Wells' book. He is seated at a desk in a large office with several African American office workers. MOBY: Beep. TIM: These days, "colored people" is an insulting term. But it was a title of respect in nineteen-o-nine, when the NAACP was founded. It staged protests against the KKK and screenings of "Birth of a Nation," filed lawsuits against unfair voting practices in the South, and even sponsored anti-lynching bills in Congress. An image shows a book about the history of the NAACP. It contains pictures of the group's activities throughout the years. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The bills all failed under opposition from Southern congressmen. Even President Roosevelt was scared to take them on. He needed Southern votes for his programs to end the Great Depression. An animation shows Roosevelt reading a copy of W.E.B. DuBois’ newspaper, "The Crisis." Southern congressmen watch him as he reads. TIM: It wasn't until Harry Truman that a U.S. president finally took a stand. An image shows a picture of Harry Truman. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Thousands of black soldiers had proudly served in World War Two. They returned home expecting to be treated as heroes. But many were attacked and some even killed during notorious riots. An image shows a group of African American soldiers in uniform. As they march down the street, they are booed and heckled by whites on the sidewalk. TIM: Truman was outraged. He desegregated the military and was the first president to address the NAACP. An animation shows an angry Truman. He gets on the phone to order desegregation of the military. TIM: During the nineteen forty-eight election, Truman promised to keep fighting for civil rights. MOBY: Beep. TIM: To everyone's surprise, he actually won. An image shows Truman holding up a newspaper, the headline of which mistakenly reads: Dewey Defeats Truman. TIM: It was another sign that the tide in America was changing. In nineteen forty-six, the Supreme Court outlawed segregation on interstate buses. And in nineteen forty-seven, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Side by side images show an integrated interstate bus and Jackie Robinson swinging a bat. TIM: Meanwhile, NAACP lawyers chipped away at school segregation. Case by case, they exposed inferior conditions at black schools. An animation shows protestors for better education protesting in front of the Supreme Court. TIM: Brave students barely older than me began staging strikes and walkouts. Then NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall took up their fight. Representing a group of these courageous kids, he brought their case before the Supreme Court. An image shows Thurgood Marshall, an African American, in front of the all-white Supreme Court. MOBY: Beep. TIM: In Brown versus Board of Education, they ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." An animation shows a newspaper's front page and the Supreme Court building. The paper's headline reads: Court Bans Segregation in Public School Cases. TIM: In other words, keeping races apart was an unfair situation no matter what. The decision overturned Plessy, and brought a legal end to segregation. The door to racial equality had opened, but there was still a ways to go. Images represent arrests, speeches, protest marches, and police attacking protestors. These types of events occurred during the Civil Rights movement. TIM: It took many more legal battles and several decades before things really changed. By then, more than a century had passed since the end of the Civil War. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it's frustrating how long progress takes to happen. But it's also kind of an inspiring story. The defeat of Jim Crow has continued to motivate new generations of activists. And not just African Americans. Immigrants, labor groups, gay and transgender people, they've all benefitted from the methods of protest and action that began with black leaders more than a century ago. Images show people protesting for the causes Tim mentions. MOBY: Beep. Moby points out the car window at the protestors blocking the street. TIM: Yeah. These guys, too. Moby honks the car's horn. Tim jumps. TIM: Hey, what gives? MOBY: Beep. Moby points out the protestors' signs to Tim. The signs read: Honk for Equality. MOBY: Beep. Several horns honk as the traffic remains halted. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts